The italicized bit is what I'm unsure about.
For a few more days he enjoyed his stay with unspoilt pleasure. Until suddenly and quite abruptly the hour came when he became weary of this life of lavish
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idleness, of these incessantly streaming torrents of polished people, when because of the high-strung culture, he longed to be back in the quietly modest nature, and even the wonderful sea no longer gave him the reviving and refreshment it had so far given. On a beach hike, the yearning for the East Prussian fields and woods overcame him with such irresistible force, that he would have liked to leave on the very same day in order to spend the short remainder of his vacation in Bärwalde.
It had become lunchtime, and he returned to the "Seastar."
But even at the entrance he hesitated.
The people weren't resting as usual, waiting for the bell call for dinner in their deckchairs in the hall or walking in carpet-covered corridors, festively dressed for the great meal. Everywhere a noticeable restlessness: in the expressions, in the movements, in all the air around him. Here one hurried past an-other carelessly, there stood one, speaking lively, shaking his head, and guiding the most intense movements with his arms and hands. Even the English siblings, who had up till now kept their calm and dignity impertubably in every situation, today appeared to be overcome with the general fever. He saw them standing in the middle of a group of a few Poles, outlining the whole circle in the air with gestures, taking part in the loud, almost passionately led conversation.
Now the young Frenchman also joined with his wife. They had exchanged a few polite words quite often. Today they greeted coolly and solemnly. And she didn't even have a silk dress on, and he appeared without a dinner jacket. That
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had not yet occurred up till now. What had happened?
There came the German guests, they too in excited conversation. Immediately, one word from it rang out to him. And it was "war."
"Austria had placed an ultimatum against Serbia," a Danzig business explained to him.
The day passed in feverish tension. One thought of nothing, spoke of nothing but the war.
"Refused!" it sounded through the hall of the "Sea Star" at the same hour two days later, "refused, as was foreseen! The courier has just brought the news."
"Then we'll have the war!"
Finally, one decided to go into the dining room. The maids served the plates, the head waiter went in inaudible, gliding step from table to table to present the wine list and to ask about wishes; now everything was in the old way. Even conversation, conducted so lively earlier, had reduced to that subdued degree that was in the habit of prevailing at the common meals, indeed, one spoke even less than usual, everyone appeared occupied with his thoughts and plans. The mood was visibly depressed, in some faces a distinct expression of worry and fear appeared.
Involuntarily, Hans' eye scanned the Russian councillor. No muscle moved in his yellowish face, he sat there with the same fixed expression, kept a tight rein on every movement of his children with the same stern look, and now and then exchanged the usual words and looks with Nuscha. She, however, appeared to him to-day different than usual; a soft flush lay in her sharply-cut
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profile, a certain unease was in her bearing. Only when the examining gaze from the other side also passed over them did she become calm. But one noticed that she did violence to herself.
